Cabin burglaries on rise

ARNOLD - Cabin burglary is a longtime problem in the mountain communities on upper Highway 4.

Dana M. Nichols

ARNOLD - Cabin burglary is a longtime problem in the mountain communities on upper Highway 4.

Historians believe that one of the region's most colorful folk heroes, reclusive mountain man Monte Wolfe, survived alone through high Sierra winters during the 1920s and '30s in part by burglarizing cabins. Wolfe's many friends and supporters said he often left chopped wood or other barter in exchange for the supplies he stole.

Today, residents here don't have such a romantic attitude toward local burglars, and the burglars appear to not be exchanging value for value.

Between Aug. 1 and Oct. 7, there were 19 burglary cases and nine theft cases in communities from Dorrington to Murphys, said Sgt. Chris Hewitt, a Sheriff's Office spokesman.

And that doesn't count other cases before or since. Two men arrested Aug. 2 in Arnold, for example, were suspected of committing at least three burglaries over the prior month. And on Oct. 24, deputies who came upon a burglary in progress in Arnold arrested two people and recovered musical instruments and electronics taken from several homes.

Worry over those burglaries and other crime was evident Tuesday night when a crowd filled the Moose Lodge on Blagen Road near Arnold to hear Calaveras County Sheriff Gary Kuntz and some of his commanders speak about crime in the Arnold and Murphys area.

Calaveras County Supervisor Merita Callaway was also present. "They were concerned," Callaway said of those at the meeting.

Callaway noted that while most crime is concentrated in Valley Springs and other communities on the west end of the county, residents of her district on the east end of Highway 4 are nonetheless upset by the recent burglaries and thefts.

The area's many vacation homes offer ideal targets for burglars, especially neighborhoods like Big Trees Village east of Calaveras Big Trees State Park.

"The houses have big trees between them and it is a little harder to do Neighborhood Watch," Callaway said. "When the snow melts and owners come back to their homes, they find they have been burglarized."

Vacation homes are not the only targets, according to Sheriff's Office statistics.

"We are getting burglaries and thefts from homes and vehicles of full-time residents, too," Hewitt wrote in an email. "People need to remember to lock their homes and vehicles and take the proper security measures to help us combat this problem."

The spate of burglaries in the county's upscale vacation areas comes during a time of tension between Sheriff Kuntz and the Board of Supervisors over funding. Shrinking revenues have forced county leaders to make budget cuts over the past five years, and Kuntz accuses the board of cutting his department too deeply.

Hewitt said the staffing level limits the agency's options.

"With only one deputy patrolling the entire area in any given 12-hour period, and with so many homes being isolated, it is difficult for us to keep an eye on everything. What compounds the problem is that many of these criminals have scanners and know where we are when they commit these crimes," Hewitt said.

Callaway and Kuntz both urged residents to form Neighborhood Watches and cooperate with law enforcement to combat the problem.

"Because of our (deputy) shortage, we are going to have to really work together," Kuntz said. "That is what Stockton is doing right now. They are getting the people involved a good bit."

"If every neighbor took a house on each side of them and watched, that makes a huge difference. It's a chain reaction. Any kind of criminal does not like to be watched. The minute they see people are watching, they go in another area."